Matthews: Florida race shows ailing democracy

Is it democracy? What’s happening here in Florida I mean. Is it democracy when one guy spends - or has spent for him - 16 million dollars to destroy the other guy’s character? 16 million! To destroy another guy’s reputation - and in just one state!

Would you forgive someone who did that to you? Would you smile, shake hands and chuckle over the deliberate effort of another human being to destroy you, to make you look like a crook?

Well, here’s what I think. I think that Newt Gingrich is not going to forget what Mitt Romney has done to him in Florida, has done to him in Iowa, is doing to him nation-wide. He’s not going to get out of the way and make it nice for Mitt. He’s not going to lay down on the side of the road like some wounded dog.

No, here’s what I think. What goes around comes around. That’s a Washington expression and it means something. You do wrong against someone on your way up and they remember it when it’s time to get you heading down. Newt Gingrich is paying for his political sins now. Romney’s right about that. It’s why he’s got only a handful of backers from his days as Speaker.

But, Mitt is also going to pay for what he’s done to Newt. There’s some Shakespearean justice coming in this drama. He who kills must die. Watch for Mitt to get his comeuppance.

So I predict that Newt Gingrich stays in this fight to the end. He’s stays in it long enough to exact revenge. There is no way he can tell himself that Mitt showed any quarter to him in his annihilation of him in Iowa and Florida. Why, on earth, should he, Newt Gingrich go sweet on Mitt now? What does he owe Romney?

He owes him defeat. That’s what he owes him and I’m betting on Newt to pay that debt. The day will come this year when Romney pays for what he did to Newt here in Florida. And when it comes, everyone will know why. Mitt Romney did what he was told was necessary to win in Florida. Newt Gingrich is will remember how deliberately and brutally Mitt did exactly that. If the ends justified the means, Newt will remember the means and he will administer justice.

This fight is not going to end soon. It is not going to end nicely. There’s a wonderful word for what’s coming in this Republican fight. Mishegoss. Hell breaking loose. Craziness.